


Black like Ink

by FandomObsessedGirl



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Symbiotes Are Known, Life Foundation, Symbiotes are known, Writer taking creative liberties with Symbiotes, can be read as, symbrock
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-09
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-08-21 05:31:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16570568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomObsessedGirl/pseuds/FandomObsessedGirl
Summary: Symbiotes.  A revolutionary breakthrough in all aspects of life.  The perfect healers for the sick or injured, the best companions for the lonely and the most lethal weapons in combat.  The Life Foundation’s “Connective” project matches Humans and Symbiotes at a young age to increase the chances of a perfect Sync.Eddie believes himself to be part of the 5% - Humans who are simply incapable of bonding with a Symbiotes without causing a risk to both Human and Symbiote - But that’s about to change when a Symbiote finds him.





	1. Prologue - Headlines

**Author's Note:**

> Just a few headlines from the world of this fic, story will start in chapter one :)

"Symbiosis: The Future Of Mankind. Find YOUR Perfect Match Today!”

“Scientists Enthuse about Benefits of Human Symbiosis!”

"Two Minds ARE Better than One!  Apply to The Life Foundation and Meet Your New Symbiote!”

"`My Own Jiminey Cricket’: Former Depressed Junkie credits Recovery to His Symbiote!”

"Statistics show Humans TWICE AS LIKELY to live longer when Bonded to a Symbiote!”

"Symbiote Saved My Life!”

"The 5%: Man Speaks Out About Life Without Symbiote”

"The New Generation: 5% could be Eradicated thanks to New “Hybrid” Symbiotes!”

"Global Food Prices Raised due to Food Shortages: Agriculture Industry blames Symbiote Appetite”

"Anti-Symbiote Movement Gains Ground after Man and Symbiote Murder 10 in Athens”

"Life Foundation Urges Calm in wake of Athens Murder Spree”

"Separation Enforced as Punishment in Greece”

"Life Foundation Scientists Warn of Psychological Damages caused by Separation”

"Man claims Innocence to Symbiote’s Actions in the Athens Killings”

"Doctor Claims Symbiote digested Patient from Inside-Out!”

"Symbiotes Dangerous? - What has the Life Foundation been Hiding?”

"Carlton Drake: ‘Symbiotes Save Lives’, Life Foundation Urges Calm”

“‘Co-operation is key’ - President’s Symbiote ‘Malice’ Speaks Up”

"Symbiote Saves Girl from Fatal Illness”

"Symbiote Popularity Rising again”

"WHICH SYMBIOTE TYPE ARE YOU? - Take The Buzzfeed Quiz!”

"E!Cable Network announces NEW Reality Series about Celebrities and their Symbiotes!”

"All Symbiote Cast in new preduction of ‘Romeo & Juliet’”

“‘MARRIED to my Symbiote’ - Woman demands Symbiote be recognised as Spouse in Richmond, Virginia”

"Carlton Drake to publish Autobiography on being in the 5%...


	2. One in Twenty People

It was writer's block that had prompted Eddie to even go out that evening. The latest article he was working on had him frustrated so he had gone out to Mrs. Chen's corner store despite the awful weather for a packet of Reese's. Writer's Block was a plague; one Eddie only seemed to catch when it came to him having to write something polite about Carlton Drake. Though he could generally grit his teeth and bear it, this time it was simply impossible.

About a week ago, his boss had called him into his office telling him his latest job was a hit, _exclusive_ interview with Carlton Drake himself, which any other yuppie would have been killing to get their hands on, about his new autobiography: " _Isolated: My Struggle in the 5%_ " - a bore filled, angst ridden, melodrama worthy of a crappy soap opera that critics seemed to be screaming their praises over because they were all sitting in Drake's back pocket. It wasn't like Eddie had been actively ready to hate Drake's glorified version of his own life, despite his many, _many_ grievances towards the man he'd actually been hoping to find something relatable within the 700 page account.

He'd been unsurprised, but still disappointed, to find nothing.

Drake made being a part of the 5% a chore, a ruin to life and something cruel life had thrown at 1 in 20 people on Earth. But it wasn't. Not really. Because sure, being in the 5% was most likely far lonelier than having a constant companion, but it wasn't like it hindered Eddie in any way.

Sure, he had some difficulties in writing any of the numerous articles on Symbiosis still being published in mass circulation even 18 years after the Life Foundation's crowning 'achievement' - he'd resorted to Annie and her Symbiote for help - but it wasn't like he couldn't function. And it certainly never felt as though he were missing out on anything.

Eddie had been twenty when Carlton Drake Sr. - a man remarkably alike his son - had made the announcement about the Symbiotes, in university finishing his bachelors when the Life Foundation had begun implementing Symbiotes into near every facet of daily life.

Who needed to pay for carers when a Symbiote could dwell within you and fix all your problems? Why pay for a psychiatrist when a Symbiote could read you and know you just as well as you knew yourself?

That had been the start. Then of course came the craze. Symbiotes were like the new iPhone, something everyone wanted because it was new and it was there. And Eddie had to admit that he too had been caught up in the whirlwind of excitement whipped up by the media and the Daily Globe newspaper where he had been doing a placement. But of course then came the announcement of the 5% - not everyone would be able to cope with having alien gloop shoved into their bodies.

And not just gloop - Symbiotes came in their own pretty little types; the gelatinous gloop kind seemed the most common ranging in a series of dark colours and forming some of the more horrifying creatures; the rocky kind who looked like rocky magma were the next forming solid rock around their humans when they took control; finally there were the mist ones, that passed as a gaseous cloud in pale colours that everyone wanted but were in the extreme minority and formed a marble like exterior.

After that, it became a common sight to see people walking down the street talking to themselves or to an elongated head growing from some part of them. It had all been too unnerving for Eddie and perhaps that was why he was only slightly disappointed that the Life Foundation had sent him a formal reply with: REJECTED-5% stamped in big red letters. To be fair at the time he'd had the bigger disappointment of losing his job due to a controversial piece he'd written about the Life Foundation's morals in the wake of an uncovered pharmaceutical scandal that no-one else seemed to care about.

Or no-one else dared write about, he'd realised in hindsight.

But he'd been twenty three, still fresh out of university, working his first article for a major news corporation, and extremely naive about the sway Carlton Drake Sr. held over the press. It wasn't like his carbon clone son was any better, the never ending positivity about this new book was evidence of that.

Eddie had made it three pages before Drake's excessive use hyperbole and poor writing had made him seriously consider burning it and now he was supposed to write a positive review?

"The whole thing is trash," his boss had admitted - a vast understatement in Eddie's opinion, "but Carlton Drake gives sizeable donations to this company that help keep up ahead of the curve. We cannot lose that bonus. You hear what I'm saying, Brock?"

"He's a crook," Eddie had replied flatly, "and I'm supposed to write something positive about what you call trash?"

"You've always managed to write something good about the guy in the past - when prompted. I'm hoping you can do that in person, I've scheduled you the interview every paper in the country's been scrabbling for - an exclusive with Carlton Drake."

And so had begun a long week of writer's block. Thus far, all Eddie had managed to come up with was "Drake's story is an inspiring one" - lie - "told from the heart" - most likely a lie - "and exceptionally moving" - absolute lie.

But given how writing negativity about the Life Foundation had gone before, Eddie knew he couldn't risk writing negatively about them again.

So here he was, staring blankly at the Reese's on the shelf whilst the refrigerators whirred behind him and Mrs. Chen read a newspaper. She was the only person Eddie knew personally who was in the 5% like him, probably for the best since Eddie and Symbiotes didn't seem to get along. At all.

Anne's Symbiote always glared at him when it was in it's eel-like form usually sprouting from Anne's neck. It was a misty purple one that was called Misery, answered to "Missy", and had almost bitten his finger off when he'd tried to give it an affectionate pat in lieu of a greeting. Never let it be said that Symbiotes don't have a sense of humour as many a time he had woken up to find Missy baring its needle like teeth three inches from his face causing him to yelp in shock and the Symbiote to retreat cackling. He'd even heard it muttering that it much preferred Dan Lewis - Anne's doctor friend - to him even though at the time he was the one Anne was dating. Missy had probably had something to do with their break up, but Dan was nice and at time he even managed to tolerate _his_ Symbiote.

Anne continued to insist that Missy was a darling and great help - especially given the writing of the media dubbed "Jekyll & Hyde" Clause that was being implemented in their state in the wake of the Athens Murder Spree last month.

Eddie probably would have spent longer in the shop just to put off writing the article, and avoid the worst of the downpour raging outside, when he'd witnessed Mrs Chen having to deal with the gunman - a regular to the shop - with a hideous grey Symbiote who always made her empty the cash drawer. Yet again, Eddie found himself hiding behind a shelf until the man left before meekly shuffling his way over to the counter to pay giving a quietly muttered "keep the change" and then made his way back outside.

It wasn't like he wanted Mrs Chen to get robbed or lose her hard earned money, but he never found the confidence to do anything. Plus in the wake of Athens? He knew exactly what the guy's Symbiote could do!  It wasn't like Athens had been the first Symbiote attack, just the first one to have been so public.  

It hadn't stopped raining when he stepped outside much to his disappointment since he had forgotten to bring an umbrella - not that one would do much good with the way the wind was whipping up the raindrops.  As Eddie crossed the street back to his apartment, he got the distinct impression that someone was watching him but when he looked around, even he couldn't see who it might have been.  


	3. Dora

Two Days Ago

Dora Skirth was one of those people who always seemed to wind up in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Accidentally overhearing various confidential conversations, holding that file that had been presumed stolen for three weeks, taking an unscheduled break just as her boss walked past her desk... that kind of thing.  

Honestly it was a miracle Drake let her keep her job at the Life Foundation - she believed it had something to do with her having worked well enough on the first Symbiosis projects with his father.  A project with so many NDAs that she doubted even Carlton Drake himself knew exactly what had been going on.  It was probably for the best since Project 12hc3D - Codenamed: HYDE - had been so initially disastrous that the three 'Alpha' Symbiotes who had first been brought back had never been bonded to anyone due to their particularly vicious nature.  

The fourth specimen had ultimately died overnight after the containment tank was left open.  However the Black, Red and Blue Symbiotes had survived and the announcement of Symbiosis attempts had been the next day before they had all proven far too dangerous for bonding.

So that was why - in her latest wrong place, wrong time move - Dora was stunned to find a private folder requesting that one of the specimens be brought out to begin a Symbiosis Match.  

It was a complete accident that Dora even had this file.  She'd gone to the mail room to pick up her own folders when Cara - the cute bio technician with the pale blue 'misty' Symbiote who worked in the parts of the building that even Dora wasn't allowed to enter - asked if Dora could pick up her files too.  Completely flustered, Dora had agreed and somehow in the awkward social interactions that couldn't have gone more disastrously if a meteor had smashed into them she'd mixed the folders up. Cara probably had Dora's completely normal statistic file, and Dora now had the Top Secret, Classified, Black Strike worthy folder on the Alpha Symbiotes.

Drake had clearly lost his head if he thought that the Alpha Symbiotes should be unleashed.  They had been so vicious in eating their way through their hosts' bodies that his father had been, very unwillingly, almost forced to shut the program down.  A second rocket returning with more 'Beta' Symbiotes had proven infinitely more docile and successful Symbiosis between Human and Symbiote had finally been achieved.  

But of course Dora was now caught in the terrifying realisation that there was nothing that she could do.  She couldn't approach Drake because he would know she'd been reading classified information and she couldn't tell anyone because Drake would inevitably find out and she would lose her job.  It was times likes this she really wished she had a Symbiote to give her advice, but of course she had been confirmed as part of the 5%.  A disappointing announcement given that by the end of the week everyone in the building seemed to be touting about with their own Symbiotes.  It was somewhat nice though that Carlton Drake was a 5% too so she wasn't totally alone and the latest Hybrid Symbiotes might mean that she could get one in the future!

Later that afternoon she had snuck down to Cara's desk and swapped the files back hoping her blunder wouldn't have been noticed and her heart had almost frozen when she had returned to her desk to find Carlton Drake himself standing there waiting.

"Dr. Skith," he greeted.  

"Mr. Drake."

He wasn't mentioning the file.   _Maybe he didn't know?  Okay just breathe, Dora..._

"Can I help you, sir?"

"You worked on the Symbiosis Projects, didn't you?  Both Alpha and Beta, I've read the files."

She had.  She had been quite young at the time, fresh out of MIT with an aptitude for biological sciences, a high IQ and a promising career ahead of her that was quickly seized upon by the Life Foundation.  Perhaps most CEO's would have passed the new project over someone like her, but Drake's farther - Carlton Drake Sr - had valued fresh faces, bright young minds and creative talents far more than experience (his words, not hers).  

Question.  He had asked a question hadn't he?

"Yes, I did, sir."

"I'm reopening Project 12ch3D-A, it seems wrong to leave the specimens contained in the vaults seeing as we know they are thinking creatures with extraordinary potential.  Imagine the benefits they could do for humanity."

"Your father had the same vision..." Dora said tentatively, "but it was eventually concluded that the Alpha Symbiotes were too dangerous for human bonding."

"We have a far better understanding of Symbiosis now though, don't we?" Drake pointed out, he was clearly already sold on the idea regardless of what she might say to the contrary, "I believe that these tests will be far more yielding than the ones conducted by m-my father."

He paused and Dora hung her head.  Canton Drake and his son were incredibly alike, in both appearance and personality, obviously the death of his father was still painful to talk about.  

"I'm beginning human trials tomorrow," he told her, "be there 5:00am sharp."

And with that he was gone.

\---

So maybe Dora should say something to somebody.  Arriving at the labs she had been delighted to find that she would be working alongside Cara - even if the woman must think her a total disaster - but this pleasantness had quickly been quashed by the start of the trials.  

There was a very clear reason why the Alpha Symbiotes had been locked up and now everyone knew it.  After an apparent success, the Blue Symbiote had begun eating its host from the inside out at a rate too fast to prevent - in less than a minute the poor man was nothing but a pile of bones as flesh and organs were stripped away.  

Drake seemed only frustrated as the Symbiote returned to its casing and instantly called for the next test subject to be brought in and the mess to be cleared up.  Even Cara's Symbiote, Lesion, seemed more disturbed by the sight than he did, murmuring quiet words in its human's ear.  

By mid afternoon, six subjects had been brought in and all of them were now dead.  

And that was the point at which Dora knew she had to do something.  Drake wasn't listening to anyone.  Not to her, not to Cara or any of the other eight scientists working on the project who were in unanimous agreement that the Alpha Symbiotes should be locked in a vault and the key thrown away.  A few of the Symbiotes argued against this strongly due to the sympathetic bond to their kin but eventually agreed that Drake's methods were not achieving the results that any of them wanted.

\---

Just because the Life Foundation had an ethics problem didn't mean that Dora did.  By the end of the day she had seen ten people suffer and die under horrendous circumstances and could bear it no more.  Drake was only happy because one of the Symbiotes - the black one - had bonded with a young woman and was no longer eating through hosts at a rate that couldn't be prevented.  His look of ... _satisfaction_ ... had made Dora's blood run cold and she had finally had enough.

Dora was not prone to 'snap'.  She was generally quiet and her brother had once informed her that she let people walk all over her so much she might as well be a doormat.  But snap she had.

One moment she was sat at her desk replaying the horrors she had seen that day and the next she had armed herself with a speaker and a blowtorch and was making her way to the labs with a purpose she'd never had before.  It was night and most people had gone home, the scientists 'watching' the labs were on a cigarette break.  

She went to the labs with every intention of blasting the three Symbiotes out of their dying hosts and then burning them to death.  It was the only way to stop Drake's madness and to hell with losing her job or being blacklisted from ever working in science ever again, she knew what was right and what was wrong.  The first Symbiote - the blue one - left its practically dead host after she blasted high frequency at it and that was when the problem began.

The only way Dora could kill the blasted thing was by entering the quarantined room the creature was in... and if she did that she would be vulnerable to it.  An unhappy Symbiote was not something you wanted.

But if her own life meant that others might be spared... 

Dora strode in and began blasting at the Symbiote.  It shrieked and screeched but eventually seemed to succumb and go still - she grabbed it in a pair of tongs ready to put it into the container and toss it into the incinerator in the basement and that was when it went wrong.   With a burst of new life, the Symbiote sprung free of the tongs and latched itself onto her face.

She felt a coolness in one ear... down her throat... through her skin and then ... nothing.

 


End file.
